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Robotaxis Will Soon Cruise Down SF’s Market Street

Waymo’s self-driving cars will offer full passenger rides launching this summer
By - posted 4/11/2025 No Comment

Heads up, San Francisco: Waymo’s self-driving cars are about to join the chaos that is Market Street. Mayor Lurie just gave the official thumbs-up, and the company will start mapping the area soon, with full passenger rides launching this summer (yes, as soon as this summer).

If you’re thinking, “Wait… wasn’t this already a thing?” — kind of. Waymo’s been operating in parts of SF since 2023, but Market Street has been off-limits. Until now.

The city says this move is part of the effort to revitalize downtown. Basically: more ways to get people to actually go to downtown. The mayor is pushing a bunch of initiatives—like new entertainment zones, faster permits for small businesses, and free startup fees for new shops. Now add robotaxis to the mix.

The goal? Make it easier for people to get to all the good stuff—restaurants, theaters, bars, stores. And if you haven’t been downtown in a while, we get it. It’s been rough. But there’s a real push to bring it back to life.

That said, not everyone’s thrilled. San Franciscans have had a rocky relationship with autonomous vehicles (remember when they blocked fire trucks or just randomly stopped in the street?). Market Street is already a wild ride—buses, cyclists, streetcars, pedestrians, delivery trucks, a guy on a unicycle with a speaker blasting 2000s hip-hop—you name it. So, yeah, people are understandably a little nervous about throwing driverless cars into that mix.

City officials say they’ll be super careful this time around. Mapping will start with humans behind the wheel, and they’re promising close coordination with Muni to keep everything moving smoothly.

Will it work? TBD. For now, just know that sometime soon, you might be sharing Market with cars that drive themselves. Hopefully they’ve learned how to handle a Giants game let-out, a protest, or a World Naked Bike Ride.

As the autonomous vehicle rollout begins, it’s a great time to rediscover downtown and support the small businesses that keep it vibrant.

Read more at SF.gov